Original subtitles

Welcome, Monster Fans, to another episode

of spooky, yet true, cryptid encounter tales.

In recent weeks, you've met the Minerva Monster,

the Bray Road Beast and even that mean old son of a gun,

the Boggy Creek Monster.

But this week, I'm gonna introduce you

to the weirdest creature

that's ever walked out of the forest.

He's big, he's hairy, he's scary and his name is Momo.

Is that it? Is that the creature?

It's time to find out!

As we do each week on "Blackburn's Cryptid Case Files",

I'm gonna introduce you to a schlocky film inspired

by the creepy critter I'll be investigating in this episode.

Let's set the stage for the film you're about to watch.

In the early 1970s,

a filmmaker by the name of Charles B. Pierce

made an independent horror movie

about a monster roaming the swamps of Southern Arkansas.

It was called "The Legend of Boggy Creek"

and it was made for very little money,

but quickly became a hit on the drive in movie circuit.

Before you could say the word Bigfoot,

all sorts of hairy ape like monster movies

begin clogging the cinemas.

Most of them were made on a dime

and most of them were downright terrible.

Suddenly, anyone with a camera

and a crappy ape suit could make a movie, you see.

So it was, in 1975, a film crew set out to make a movie

about another famous hairy monster.

In fact, the hairiest monster ever seen

outside the distant jungles of Africa, Momo,

Missouri's own monster.

The film crew shot and edited the film,

but for some unknown reason, never released it.

Boy, do I have a treat for you tonight.

I've searched far and wide to track down the only known copy

of the original film.

That's right, we're gonna show it right here tonight

and together we're gonna explore Missouri

and get to the bottom of this real case

that inspired this should have been B movie cult classic.

So like I always say, spin the reel.

I can't believe you're dragging me eight hours

to see Alice Cooper!

Disgusting!

Couldn't we have waited and seen The Carpenters instead?

This is exactly what I'm talkin' about!

You need more culture.

Culture!

He bites the heads off of chickens and drinks their blood!

Oh, please.

That's a story our parents made up

because they think our psyches are too fragile

to handle being scared a little.

He gets attacked by monsters during his shows

and you're scared of a dead bird?

Salmonella is very real.

Monsters in tacky suits, not so much.

Great, I knew you were a nerd,

but a biologist to boot,

this is gonna be a longer trip than I thought.

Hey, I think I see a spot up ahead.

You hungry, Professor?

Whatever, as long as it's not chicken.

Let's go. All right.

Joan. Hmm?

Do you hear that?

I don't hear anything.

Do you smell that?

What kind of creature makes a smell like.

What, Joan?

What is it?

What, Joan?

What is it?

Joan!

No, no, no, no! Don't get in the car!

Go on you creature!

Oh, my gosh!

I'm going for it.

Oh, Mary, you can't!

That thing is still out there!

I know but we need the keys.

And the girl that's afraid of chickens

is actin' like one herself at the moment!

Joan!

Oh, hurry!

Oh, my gosh, hurry! It's all right!

What's wrong? It's not moving!

No, no, no!

Oh, my God!

This is Louisiana, Missouri,

a town where nothing much ever happens until it does.

Missouri is my kind of state.

It's drenched in history, a lot of it bloody, messy stuff.

It's also home to some of the downright weirdest stories

you're ever likely to hear.

What's really strange, though,

is that a good number of these stories come

from right here in this town.

Located in Northeast Missouri,

the quaint, bucolic community of Louisiana is pretty much

just a river town.

You see, the Mississippi runs right along here.

This proximity to such a major waterway became

one of Louisiana's largest sources of income.

The town was founded in 1816 by John Walter Basye

and the town's history is largely connected

to the earliest pioneers who made their way here

during the great western expansion.

You know, Manifest Destiny and all that.

Okay, yeah, just state your name.

Willard Wamsley from Louisiana, the Louisiana area.

John Wood, from Louisiana, Missouri.

1818 was when we got our charter

and it was started just by people who'd migrated in here

and then they got their charter

and it became a river town.

How it was named was a gentleman here in town,

it was named after his daughter.

And then of course the Louisiana Purchase

and then Louisiana came in.

I think we had

12 taverns

and just as many lawyers at one time,

and that kinda made the town go.

When the river was more important

and rail was more important,

why Louisiana was a goin' place.

We had it all.

Of course, all the communities around,

if they were gonna ship their product,

they had to come to Louisiana.

The railroad and the river,

both kinda put Louisiana on the map.

Where it is, where it sits is very convenient

to both the river transportation and always has been.

My name is Martha Sue Zook Smith.

I don't know that the financial situation of

this part of our Pike County is any more financially

than the rest of the country.

I know that at one time

Louisiana had lots and lots of factories.

They had big import/export type out of Louisiana

with the coming of the railroad and river transportation.

It just was different.

I'm afraid I can't put it on

any basis particularly, it just it is different.

If you're talkin' about what was really big,

tobacco, what is it, Tins.. Tinsley Twis.

That was a brand of tobacco, chewing tobacco.

So it was a big deal.

I don't expect to see any of that again,

so we'll just have to make do.

We're either gonna get better or we're not.

And if we don't we're in trouble,

along with a lot of other little towns.

Star Hill is one of the big hills in Louisiana

and as far as I know, forever,

of course I don't mean that,

but as far as I know, every Christmas,

the huge big star lights up at night

and that is known as Star Hill.

I've got some tales about Star Hill, too.

When I was a young girl,

we had a Samoyed dog.

Samoyed's are beautiful.

His name was Malla and he wandered up to Star Hill

and somehow got poisoned

and died on Star Hill.

Star Hill is Marzolf Hill, right?

Yes, okay.

I know the names, but I don't.

Like I said, this area has had it's fair share

of weird stories.

UFO's have always played a part in local legends,

but spooky tales extend far beyond mere lights in the sky.

There's ghosts, huge winged birds and even monsters.

In 1869, residents of Macon, Missouri,

a mere 100 miles from Louisiana,

were tormented by a creature they began calling the Devil.

The thing was said to be taller than any man,

yet stood upright like one.

After weeks of harassment, the locals formed a posse

and went in search of the Devil and they found it.

A furious battle ensued,

in which a handful of hunting dogs were killed

by the beast before it finally made its escape

in a nearby river.

It was seen exiting the river on the opposite bank

before disappearing into the woods.

And that wasn't the last of such reports, either.

In 1968, Springfield, Missouri was stalked

by a hairy, eight foot tall creature

that terrorized young boys and motorists.

The creature was seen around the quite town of Springfield

for several days until it finally vanished.

So yes, Missouri has its fair share

of hairy monsters and legends.

And the most famous of these legends was born right here

on this very hill in 1972.

Help!

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!

I got you! I got you first!

Who are you?

I am.. I shall take over the world!

And I shall save the world!

I won, I won!

Yeah!

I don't know how you can do that

when I am victorious!

Come on, is that all you got?

No, I got powers and..

Yeah!

You will not win this one!

Harry?

We saw the boogeyman!

We saw the boogeyman!

We saw him, we saw him!

Doris, there's a monster out there!

Doris, there's a monster in the woods!

I know, Terry, I know.

I saw it, too.

There, there, Wally.

It's all right, it's all right!

That thing can't find you in here.

Listen, you two, stay inside!

Just try to calm down, okay?

Let me see if I can call Dad.

Harrison's Diner.

Dor, Doris, Honey, slow down, what did you?

A monster dog?

Hold on.

Edgar!

Sweetie, just tell me, yeah,

tell your father what you told me.

Doris?

Hey.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, okay, I see.

Can it wait until I get home?

No, okay, all right.

All right, give me just a second

and I'll be back there in a little, okay?

Okay, bye.

Do you want me to go with you? I mean, we can close up early.

No, no, no, no, it's okay.

It's probably just one of the neighbor kids messing around.

They're always doing stuff like that.

I'll head back and check on her and check out things at the house.

And then you stay here, watch the restaurant

and I'll be back in a little bit to help you close up, okay?

Dad, it was seven feet tall!

It was black and hairy! Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?

It was all black and hairy! Everyone calm down.

Calm down, calm down! It was big..

And weaving back and forth.

And it had long stringy hair hanging down!

Yes! And, Daddy, it had a dog.

It did!

Dad, it was carrying a dead dog!

Doris, what was that, what did you say?

I said he was carrying a dead dog.

I swear, Dad, it was eight feet tall.

It looked like a bear that mated with Jerry Garcia!

I could smell it from inside the house.

It smelled like rotten eggs and Terry's socks!

All right listen, everybody needs to calm down

and think about what you saw, okay?

It was probably one of the neighbor kids

that got a Halloween costume,

a werewolf costume or something

and they're out there trying to scare you guys, okay?

I'm gonna go and check it out.

Doris, you watch over your little brothers,

you think you can do that?

Don't go!

No, don't go!

Listen, listen. Don't go.

Here's the thing, they don't teach you this in school,

okay, you got it?

It's monster hunting 101.

Monsters are afraid of dads, all right.

It's science, they don't teach it but it's real.

So this boogeyman, whatever it was,

thought that it found a house with no dad

and he was wrong, okay?

So I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna go find him.

Okay, okay?

Hey!

You kids still out here?

If you are I'm gonna make you wish that you weren't!

I'm gonna tell it to your parents!

You hear me?

So the kids were pretty spooked, huh?

Yeah, it's okay, though.

I pinky sweared that I'd stay up all night

to get 'em to go to bed.

Must have been serious business

to get you in that kind of contract.

Yeah, I'd say they're gonna make it

to school just fine tomorrow.

Still though,

they seem pretty rattled.

They believe what they saw.

I mean, they said it was seven feet tall,

it smelled like death.

The weird part was they said it was carrying some sort

of dead animal, I don't know.

Well, what do you think?

I'm inclined to think it's just kids messing around,

but I was looking around out back earlier

and I saw some sort of weird tracks out back earlier.

Strange.

Tracks?

Like prints, like big footprints.

Not like anything I'd ever seen in nature, that's for sure.

And they weren't lying about the smell, either.

Lord Almighty.

Well, Ed, try to get some sleep.

Stay out of my woods!

What in the world is going on around here?

The Harrisons were just an average, small town family.

They owned a restaurant in town and were well respected

and liked by the other residents.

They weren't the type to make up monster stories.

After years of relating their tale over and over,

they've become little more than fictional characters,

but they were real people.

Real people whose lives were about to be turned upside down.

The first encounter that people attribute

to starting the Momo craze, as it were,

was on July 11th, 1972 at the foot of Marzolf Hill

at the Harrison Home.

I'm Michael Huntington.

I'm from Cape Girardeau, Missouri,

which is a small river town

at the other end of the State of Missouri.

It was in the afternoon and Doris Harrison,

who was 15, was watching her siblings, Terry and Wally,

who out in the backyard playing, they were eight and five.

And they were playing with their dog,

I believe his name was Chubby.

They were enjoying themselves

until they smelled something strange,

something really strong and pungent

and heard some rustling amongst the treeline.

They screamed.

Doris looked out the bathroom window, saw a creature.

Edgar, his kids, if I remember right and I could be wrong,

but if I remember right, his kids were out in the yard

and saw somethin' in their backyard,

up on the back side of the hill on the north side,

and it scared 'em and they ran in the house

and told the father and he went out and saw whatever he saw.

My name is Richard Alan Murry,

I'm local, from here in Louisiana, Missouri.

One thing that I recollect this thing was supposedly large.

And it was supposedly hairy

and it made kind of an odd sound

and it had quite an odor to it.

Doris did describe it as appearing like a man,

but it wasn't a man.

It was somewhere between six and seven feet tall.

It was matted

in blood, tree limbs and branches and stuff.

And it was carrying what looked to be a dead dog.

She got her siblings and called her parents.

Within a short period of time,

the family was there, her dad was there

and thus began a series of events

centered around Marzolf Hill.

You were connected to the Momo story

because your father was the Chief of Police.

Yes, he was.

I'm Snookie Ward, Shelby Ward was, of course, my dad.

He was Chief of Police during that time frame.

Daddy got the report regarding something

that scared the family, just absolutely scared them silly.

The first call you would make, I would be assumin',

would be the Chief of Police, "Hey, we see something,

"We don't know what it is.

"Come up here and investigate, do your job."

Daddy believed that they did see something

because the emotions involved, the fear involved,

he didn't believe that it was just a lie

to get attention or anything.

No, he believed that they believed they did see something.

But I really believe that Harrisons believed

what they were sayin'.

I don't think it was a hoax, they were sincere.

Oh, yeah, Ed was a good guy.

He worked for the City of Louisiana,

he was on the water department.

I would say 99% of the people,

if you went out on the street and asked 'em

who started the Momo rumor, they couldn't tell you.

So there is no retaliation

or saying anything about the Harrisons.

Now that is my opinion.

Edgar himself was adamant.

He was ready to go to a fistfight with ya

if you said he didn't.

He was very serious about it.

Look, the fact is this was the 1970s

and grind house films weren't exactly concerned

about being factual.

Did some of these events happen?

You better believe it.

Did they happen as relayed by a bunch of Hollywood wannabes

making a movie for zero dollars on 16mm?

Heck, no.

So take everything with a grain of salt, except for this.

There was something happening to the Harrison family,

something that defied explanation.

Excellent meetin' tonight, Edgar.

The spirit was really moving.

Thanks for having us over.

Oh, don't mention it, Reeves, it's our pleasure.

It's a shame that Pahoe couldn't make it, though,

but I understand.

(Indistinct)

Edgar.

"There shall be signs in the sun

"And in the moon and in the stars.

"And on the Earth, distress of nations in perplexity.

"Men's hearts failing them for fear.

"For the powers of heaven shall be shaken."

What in the world are those things, Vicky?

I don't think they're from this world.

What did we just witness?

There was a power plant over that way,

maybe a transformer blew and the backup came on.

I mean, there has to be a reasonable explanation.

"Know ye that when these things come to pass,

"That the kingdom of God is nigh at hand."

Their integrity, I think, is pretty up to par.

They were a pretty religious family, I think.

There were Pentecostal meetings held at the house

and I think even one of 'em was interrupted,

I think, by Momo.

I'm familiar with that incident

that happened on July 14th when they had the prayer meeting

and they were standing outside

and they saw the lights in the sky

and then they heard the voice.

There had been some reports of lights on Marzolf Hill

on a couple of different occasions.

At the prayer meeting that was held there,

there were lights allegedly,

I guess like maybe orbs, or balls of energy

that were seen.

I believe a pair of 'em were seen going down

from Marzolf Hill, all along the treeline there.

It wasn't just Momo creating a ruckus

around Louisiana, Missouri in the early 1970s.

Strange objects had been seen in the skies

around the state for decades.

But in the early 1970s,

a wave of UFO sightings engulfed the region.

Mrs. Avery, you have reported sighting

an unidentified flying object.

And I called the yard man's attention to it.

So he looked at it and he said that he thought

it was a weather balloon.

I understand something strange happened

to you folks while you were here last night.

Yeah, that's true.

That thing came up and it moved really fast

and came right over us and hovered right over us.

Well the day it happened,

Sam and I were out working the cattle.

I rode down to this point and looked right up there

and I saw this object just sittin' there.

And I called Sam and he rode over right quick

and this thing just sat there.

We both looked at it, about that time it..

Back in 1972, as the Momo sightings were going on,

a lot of the investigators

that were investigating Momo at the time

were also UFO researchers.

As they investigated Momo,

they also began to notice a number

of UFO sightings in the area,

going down to O'Fallon, Wentzville,

over to the Cuivre River,

some of the other towns south of here.

They definitely looked at these

and noticed that there was at least some correlation

between anomalous atmospheric phenomena

and anomalous creatures.

All of a sudden,

people from all walks of life

were spotting strange lights hovering

above at all hours of the day and night.

Even the opening of the 1975 movie is based on a real event.

Shortly after the Momo sightings began,

a dozen eyewitnesses saw two unidentified lights

in the sky above town.

Were these UFOs?

Had one of them crashed into the woods outside Louisiana

and brought with it a hairy, lumbering, ape like critter

that went on to terrorize the populous?

Due to the ongoing flap,

UFO hunters from across the country started showing up

in Louisiana to search for Momo.

Some of them believe Momo himself was an alien visitor

from a distant planet, curious about mankind.

And apparently,

he enjoyed the taste of man's best friend

as more dogs began to go missing in the area.

As tension began to mount,

more attention was focused on the Harrison family

and on Marzolf, or Star Hill as it was sometimes called.

Well, what can you say,

that's summer weather for ya.

They say it sounds like the excitement has yet

to die down in Louisiana.

The mystery of Missouri's own monster continues to deepen.

A trail of giant footprints was found

in Farmer Robbin's field about eight miles south of town,

but get this, each foot only had three long toes.

Maybe he stepped in a bear trap.

Harrisons.

Hello, is this Edgar Harrison?

Yeah, this is him, who's this?

My name is Wendorf and I have a farm right outside town.

Well, what can I do for you today, Mr. Wendorf?

Well, I'm not exactly sure how to start,

but I understand you folka had had a run in

with that monster that's been stalkin' around these parts?

Yeah, someone or some thing scared the daylights

out of my kids a few days back.

I seen it for myself and I thought maybe you'd be one

I could explain it all about to.

Whoa!

Thanks for listenin' to me

and not laughin' me off the phone.

Stay safe.

Hello.

So, we were trying to find this party in Pike County

but it was a bust, you know.

So I took off by myself,

just walkin' for a half hour or so, enjoying nature.

Then the wind shifted and I got hit by this smell

that was like a cross between a skunk and rotting flesh.

I mean, not like I'm an expert

when it comes to rotting flesh

but you know what I mean.

Anyway, I'm dealing with that

and I realize that maybe 300 feet away,

somebody else is walking in the woods.

I was near a pasture so I thought,

"Oh, it's a farmer, you know, rounding up his cows,

"Not a big deal."

But then I hear a god awful, bloodcurdling scream.

At first I thought it was cattle, but then I realized

whoever it was in the treeline is looking right at me.

And so I start walking and he starts walking

and when I stop, he stops.

So I'm starting to get pretty nervous.

I kind of realized I was jogging

and this character is matching my moves, stop, start, looking.

But the stench was getting stronger

and he was angling towards me, getting closer by the minute.

I stopped one more time and looked.

I couldn't believe it,

this wasn't a person, this is a creature.

I really felt like I was in danger.

My adrenaline was going,

I was scared out of my wits.

And so I saw this farm house in the distance

and that was my only goal, you know.

I looked back and the thing was going

back toward the pasture.

I hid behind a tree for a while until things settled down.

Terry, eat your food.

With the fork!

The kids at school you are a monster hunter now,

is that true?

Of course not.

People are seeing something that they don't understand

and they want to talk to somebody about it.

For some reason, when people see the thing

no one will believe them.

I don't like this, Ed.

The noises in the woods and the lights in the sky last week,

that's one thing,

but people coming to you with these stories,

they think we're freaks.

Even business is hurting

because everyone thinks we're the people that started it.

He's just tryin' to make sure we're okay!

That's better than having your head buried in the sand.

Doris, don't talk back to your mother.

But, Dad, she didn't see that thing, I did!

Doris, Sweetie, it's not that I don't believe

you think you saw something,

but we can't go running out in the woods hunting

for a monster, or bear, or whatever it is.

Someone who's equipped

to handle the situation will deal with it,

like Chief Ward or the dog warden.

I think you need to take the kids

and head back to the restaurant to the cellar

and just wait for this whole thing to blow over, okay.

What?

You can't keep putting your family through this!

We need you to wake up.

Dad, let me stay with you!

No, it's not safe, I'm sorry.

Just listen to yourself!

Listen, I know how it sounds

but there's something out there and it's drawn to us, okay.

You've always known me to do the right thing

and this feels like the right thing.

You're gonna have to give me the benefit of the doubt, okay.

Doris.

Won't you please let me stay with you?

You need me!

I've seen what it does!

Listen, come here, look.

Terry, I need you to take care of your little brother, okay.

You got to keep your sister in line.

You're just gonna be at the restaurant

until the entire thing blows over, okay?

Okay. Okay, go on.

Okay.

Betty!

Thank you, okay.

It's not for nothing.

It's all gonna be over soon, I promise.

It's not hard to picture a scenario where somebody

who may have had a Momo sighting

would contact the first person thrust

into the eye of the hurricane.

No, the townspeople weren't contacting Edgar

as if he was some sort of Kolchak, the Night Stalker.

But it's not hard to picture a scenario

where a witness may have contacted Edgar

believing him to be the only person

who wouldn't simply laugh at, or dismiss them entirely.

Suddenly restaurants were selling Momo burgers,

newspapers were flying off newsstands

and tourists were flooding to town.

And there was hardly anywhere the Harrison kids could go

without being laughed at or talked about.

The town was firmly in the grasp of monster mania.

It wasn't just the UFO and monster hunters,

or the strange activity taking place

that began to impact the lives of the Harrison family.

It was the town's reaction

to what was taking place, as well.

It bordered on hysteria at one time when it was new.

And there was even a song written about it.

I would say, wouldn't you, Willard,

I would say it went on for several months.

There was sighting there about every month or so.

Someone'd say, "We've seen Momo last night,"

or something like that.

Of course you didn't know whether to believe

in what they were doin', or it was a hoax, or joke.

Following the Harrison sighting,

a resident on River Road, I believe,

reported a sighting.

Are you familiar with that one?

That's the Ellis Minor encounter.

Old character who lived down there on the River Road,

along a treeline.

One evening, about a week and a half or so

after the initial encounters, he was sittin' on his porch.

His dog alerted him to something moving in the darkness along the road.

He got his flashlight,

shined the flashlight over to the road

and he saw Momo.

Some sort of large, dark, hairy, man like creature.

I guess it got scared away by his light

and proceeded to scurry off

into the trees.

He seems to think it was on its way to the river.

Momo was surprised just as much as Ellis Minor that night

and his dog.

You know there were quite a few people that claimed,

I believe there were several families

up on what we call River Road.

It's a little road, runs right along the river naturally,

here just on the north end of town.

I believe there was something.

I'm fairly certain that some of the people

that reported seeing things did see something.

As far being a bigfoot type creature,

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that.

But there was something here, something going on.

There was a lot of people came in,

adventurers who had looked for Momo.

Yeti and.. The Yeti and all of those.

There was all kinds of people came to Louisiana lookin' for 'em.

So at the time,

I know you were young when the Momo story came out,

what's your recollections about that whole thing?

I remember it was a big, big deal around here.

Gail Suddarth, I'm from here, Louisiana.

My mom was always real nervous about it

because we lived in the country

and my dad worked shift work.

So she was always kind of real nervous about it,

always thought she heard things and things like that.

So all the stores had Momo sales and the Momo burger.

It was a big thing for us, I guess.

This town became monster central for a number of weeks and even months.

The press from all over the world came here,

newspapers, television, foreign press.

I think there were people from Japan here studying Momo

and seeing what it was.

Of course, it was reflective of the culture of the times.

I used to cut through on Eighth Street

and there's a bridge now,

it used to be just a crossing through the creek,

and you went up Eighth Street

and I was in my pickup headin' up to my folks,

I still lived at home at the time and there was something.

There's a very steep hill,

and there used to be a couple of houses up there,

and it went up the hill, inbetween the houses

up onto the hill.

I do know it stood upright.

It looked around and it went up the hill.

And the hill's so steep, it doesn't matter what you are,

you're gonna use all fours to go up the hill, even a person.

What I saw kind of resembled a small bear,

or maybe even like a monkey type thing, I don't know.

It was just small, stood upright, kind of a dark tan color

and ran up the hill.

I know you said

your mother might have seen something.

Yeah, my mother did.

Again my dad worked shift work

so she was like alone with four kids.

She was sure that one night,

she said she was doing exercises

and when she looked out the window,

he was starin' in the window at her.

She pretty much described it just the same

as everybody else did.

Tall, she said kind of a shadowy form,

but she said it had to be big

because she could see like shoulders

and torso above our back door, which had no steps,

it was just like an extra door

that had no back steps back there.

So she could see it standing above that.

So she was sure she saw something

and I'm sure she did see something,

but I don't know what it was.

You know, you heard about this one lady went

to open her gate, she had a heart attack.

Or some other people down the road,

they smelled this god awful smell

and were extremely upset about it.

I think that's normal, though.

That came about because of seeing something

that they couldn't identify, it's gonna create panic.

Approximately a year earlier,

there was the Mills Ryan encounter.

A couple of local ladies were having a picnic

off of one of the highways here, I think it was 79

and they smelled something, something awful,

something pungent, something putrid.

What came out of the woods certainly was some kind of animal

but it wasn't an animal that they were familiar with.

It was some sort of hairy, ape like creature is

what they described.

Hung around the periphery of the treeline

and it frightened these women.

They ran to their car, they left their picnic.

They even left their keys.

I think they had to honk their horn to scare the creature off...

And by that time he had ran off

with their peanut butter sandwiches.

You know, they were sort of shrugged off and dismissed

until the following year

when literally dozens of other people were saying

that same sort of thing around this area.

So tell me again how you found this track, Ms. Suddarth?

It was actually Bill who found it.

Last night we heard the most mournful howl coming

from the woods.

We hadn't heard anything like that in all the years

we've lived here.

So he came out, looked around

and that's when he found these.

He was frightened

so he called Clyde, Clyde came out

and well, both guys were confused.

So that's when we called you.

What do you think, Edgar?

What do I think?

I think I'm confused.

I think I'm scared.

I think I'm terrified.

Something, something's killing our animals.

Something's, something's stalking our children.

Somebody's got to do something!

Were you aware that tracks were found?

No, not until later, way later.

I wasn't aware of that.

There were tracks that were found.

They were different than other Bigfoot type tracks.

They were three toed which is sort of different

than what you would expect from some sort of primate

that we would be familiar with,

or what people attribute to a bigfoot.

Did you hear anything

about tracks being hoaxed?

Now I don't know about that.

I do know that there were some handmade feet put in prints

and dust...

And someone had cut out the shape of a foot

and went out across the ground with 'em on.

So walk me through the day that you decided

to add to the Momo legend, if you will.

Okay, I went out to pick tomatoes out of the garden,

it was fairly early in the morning,

I'm not really sure what time it was or anything.

So I walked down there and it was kind of,

you know, not really muddy out,

but it was damp and everything.

So I thought, "Well, I'll just make a little footprint here

"And then I'll go in and tell my mom and dad I found a footprint."

And so I did that, I took my heel

and just made impressions in the dirt.

When I went back in, I think I really didn't expect

that they would believe me,

they would just kind of go along with it for a few minutes

and then it would kind of be over with.

And I made the impression and I went back in the house

and I said, "Oh, look what I found!"

So they came out and looked.

My dad called Clyde Penrod,

which was kind of a relative of ours,

and then they came out and did a plaster cast of it.

And then like over the next few days,

several different people came out

and they had some, like an, I don't know,

anthropologist, or somebody came out

and authenticated the footprints.

Said, "Oh, yeah, it's definitely from an animal

"Because it has animal hair."

And due to the depths of the impressions and everything,

they determined its weight and its height.

So by that time I was really too afraid

to say anything different, so I just didn't.

I just kept my mouth shut

and I just let everybody think

that whatever had happened was out there.

And I don't know how they explained

that there was only one footprint,

it was something to do with,

because of his stride or something.

There was only one footprint, because that's all I made.

So that was the story of the footprint.

That's how it happened.

And my mom, after that of course,

was really sure that Momo was lurking around out there.

My dad never really said a whole lot about it,

but I think after a while, I'm pretty sure he was suspicious

but he never said anything to me.

But he just never really said too much about it,

he just kind of laughed it off after a while.

A lot was said about it.

I was on the street carrying mail mainly then

and what I remember, there was a group of people

that went on Star Hill hunting Momo

and the conservation agent here was livid.

And he told the city marshal

that if it's not in the game book, it's illegal

and he'll arrest anybody that shoots Momo.

Hysteria maybe, hysterical, no.

Definitely a lot of excitement in town.

Like I said, the people were goin' out and carrying guns.

Supposedly, some people even shot at this thing

off the highway, north of town.

It put a lot of fear in parents for their children's safety

and even some of them, for their own safety.

Because if you were out around the woods

or somethin' somewhere and somebody caught a glimpse of ya,

they might take a shot at you.

I mean it was not a smart time to be paradin' around

in the dark.

Shortly thereafter,

he organized a search party to go up on Marzolf.

Yes.

Like I said, Daddy was an amazing person

and he loved the people in Louisiana

and he did his damnedest to protect them.

Well we call Star Hill, Marzolf Hill,

where Momo was sighted originally

and seen quite often, or whatever was there.

It was kind of a playground.

You know, I grew up a couple blocks down the hill from it

and the parents just wouldn't let their kids go up.

As time went on along,

I mean there were groups of

very serious adult men that were goin' up armed.

There was a few hundred people went up there off and on,

just not one time.

But there was several people, like I say, went up

and we searched the hills and tried to find something.

They would go in groups, a couple of times with 30 and 40,

led by city police officials and tryin' to comb this hill

and find this thing.

People camped out.

Mr. Harrison camped out, I believe, for three weeks

while his family stayed elsewhere.

He camped out lookin' for this creature.

The police went on multiple raids up to the top of the hill

to try to find out what was going on.

(Muttering)

All right, Men, we're about ready to do somethin'

that's never been done before in the history of Pike County

and somethin' that we'll never hopefully have to do again.

We're gonna go out and try to flush out this creature they call Momo

and end this mystery once and for all.

I heard that thing ran off

with one of Charlie Pierce's prized shows.

What kind of thing could take a 100 pound hog

and just walk away with it?

Now obviously, safety's the most important thing here,

but if you get a clean shot on this thing

you are authorized to take it.

We have the community to think about.

We're gonna split off into two groups.

I'm gonna take one

and Edgar Harrison's gonna take the other.

Any questions?

Yeah, anyone want any fur coats

once I bag this critter?

Yeah!

Chief, you suppose that could just be a kid

in a monkey suit goofin' around?

It'd have to be a pretty dumb kid,

runnin' around like it's Halloween like that,

liable to get his head blown off.

Speakin' of which. Oh, sorry about that.

I'm not even sure there's anything out here to shoot.

At least nothin' like that.

I mean.

Ooh, that's gross!

That's the smell of death!

What did you do?

There's somethin' on the hill!

Kill it!

(Murmuring)

Stay out of my woods!

Whoever said that better step out right now,

I'm done playing games!

This ends tonight!

I've never seen somethin' like this before!

It's like a lean to or something.

All right, Boys, with the other tracks we found back there,

we may as well check this thing for hair.

Is that it, is that the creature?

It's time to find out!

Edgar, wait!

Ow!

Gerald, is that you?

I'm telling you exactly what happened.

I followed it into its lair, I shot it between the eyes.

I sent this thing back to hell.

Don't go jumpin' to conclusions,

you don't know what you shot or if you shot anything at all.

You might have shot a deer. Right!

Or you might have shot your own shadow for all we know.

The point is that you're tired, I'm tired

and we saw stuff out in the woods, too.

Lights. Don't forget the voice!

Right, right, but the point is

you're tired and we're tired.

Whatever was out there is not there now, we drove it off.

I did more than flush it out, I shot it between the eyes!

I believe you, Edgar,

but we're here to keep the peace

and right now keepin' the peace means

that you didn't shoot anything at all.

But maybe you did, maybe you saved everyone in Louisiana.

Go on home, get some rest, Ed.

Look, we're all upright and we're all breathin'

and for me that means it was a successful night.

Go home and get some rest.

Strange voices in the woods, lights in the sky,

a hairy, scary beast hanging out on Marzolf Hill,

it has all the trappings of a made for drive in movie,

but it really did happen.

Members of the posse did claim

to hear a mysterious disembodied voice in the woods

and numerous people saw strange lights in the sky,

not to mention those who claimed to have seen the creature.

Was there really a Momo there?

The bones can be chalked up to artistic license,

but there really was an abandoned building located

up on Marzolf Hill, which could have been used

as a hideaway for a large animal or an unknown creature.

I seem to recall a little somethin'

about they found like a brush hut or something.

And then there was supposedly like an abandoned,

derelict house or something like that,

and they thought they'd found a nest or something in there.

To answer your question, I don't remember much about it.

As a young man, I just wanted to see what this was,

if it was I wanted to get a hold of him like everyone else.

But we never found nothing, never saw nothing,

never smelled nothing and they said he had a terrible odor,

but none of this came true, on my part.

So when they were up there doing their search did they find anything?

I don't remember if they did or not, I don't know?

I mean, it was actually later, maybe as years went passed,

well like this was found and this was there,

that type of thing.

But at the time..

Did anybody claim to have shot Momo

during that time?

Again, not that I'm aware of.

I personally don't believe

there was anything there to shoot.

I think some people saw something,

but as far as for being a Bigfoot,

you know, I think that's a little extreme.

Maybe the strangest aspect

of this whole story is the posse itself.

Whatever was going on in Louisiana

at the time was serious enough

that Chief Ward organized a group of 20 men

and they really did go up on Marzolf Hill

to hunt down the creature, or whatever it was.

Hey, check it out!

We're getting word that a search party went looking

for that old Missouri Monster tonight

in the general vicinity of what we call Star Hill,

known as Marzolf Hill here in Louisiana.

Of course in recent days,

residents have reported strange smells,

howls in the night

and even sightings of the hairy beast itself.

The deputy sheriff we talked to wanted

to assure the public that there's nothing to worry about,

that's it probably best to keep your pets inside after dark

for the time being.

Dad! Daddy!

Mrs. Suddarth brought us home

the minute the reports came in.

What happened, Edgar?

I killed it, I think.

It was there one second, I shot it and it was gone.

I think I killed it.

Groovy!

See, Dad, you're a monster hunter now!

Wait 'til the rest of the kids at school hear about this!

They won't be laughing at us anymore.

(Murmuring)

Fireflies? Those aren't fireflies.

Edgar?

The Harrison family wasn't killed

by an angry, vicious monster.

Heck, even Momo itself didn't seem

all that angry or vicious, perhaps just curious.

Maybe a little lost in its surroundings.

Sort of like an outsider, like so many of us are

in a world that won't seem to slow down.

Bigfoot sightings in Missouri continue to this day,

but the descriptions don't exactly line up

with the hairy, scary, Missouri Monster scene in 1972.

After the sightings stopped, the town went back to normal.

And in the years to follow,

Louisiana turned its back on its local monster,

preferring to forget it ever existed.

If they did acknowledge the event,

it was under the caveat that the whole thing was made up,

a hoax perpetrated by some local kids.

The Harrison family and the other witnesses,

however, would beg to differ.

They know what they saw.

What are your thoughts on the possibility

that there was something behind this,

some sort of creature or anything?

I think some people truly believed

that they thought they saw something.

And I think a lot of it's just because when you get wrapped up

in that kind of a story and everything,

I think you're always a little open

to more things than you normally would be, I guess.

I don't think I ever fully believed it.

Maybe as a kid, you know, as a kid, but not after that.

I'd go back to hysteria

at first and then it began to die down.

There was one theory that maybe it was a black bear

that they saw.

But I really believe that Harrisons believed

what they were sayin'.

I don't think it was a hoax, they were sincere.

My thought was curiosity, is it true?

And as time went on, I said, "No, it's not true."

That was my personal opinion.

There was a story circulated

and the people that were involved in it,

one of 'em's still alive and one of 'em's dead now

and I'm not going to get into who they were,

I'm not gonna do that,

but my understanding that they were two businessmen

and that they put together a suit.

And that one of them wore it around

and it was even seen in their business at the time

and that would promote the idea of a hoax.

I will also say that that happened a couple,

three weeks, after the original.

So if that was what Edgar and them saw, I doubt it.

Some people thought it was somethin' to stir Edgar up,

I don't know?

I'm not gonna say it didn't happen,

I was just not that involved.

I didn't read the paper about it.

It was just happening,

I'm not gonna say it didn't involve me,

but my life went on.

I didn't live Momo.

I didn't look for Momo.

But I was not in the hub of Momo.

Maybe that's why I don't find it so terribly important.

But

I don't deny that it is a part of Louisiana's history.

Important history?

Not in my eyes,

but a piece of our history.

It's an interesting sidelight.

I don't think anybody really took it that serious.

Maybe at the time, but not now, I don't believe.

Well, I'd forgotten part of it

until Martha Shoe called me the other night,

I hadn't thought of Momo in 20 years.

It was somethin' that was here,

you talked about it and then it died,

as far as I was concerned.

Well, to answer your question,

you really can't just straightforward answer it,

it's more like a three part answer.

At the time, immediately, I mean it made a big deal.

In the medium term, and I'm talking about

for like the next five, six years, seven years,

they had a Momo Day celebration,

Momo sales with the businesses and so forth.

And people came to town and shared in that

and did business in town and it promoted the town.

In the long term, let's say after 30 years,

we've had a lot of time passed,

it doesn't make any difference.

I mean you're the first people

I've heard talk about Momo in years, that's it.

I mean it's just somethin' in the paper, a little blurb,

"Remember Momo," and that's the extent of it.

Yes, I definitely think Momo is an important part

of the Louisiana town history.

Whether you believe it or whether you don't believe it,

I think it's an important part of the history.

There's probably not anybody you could ask

that wouldn't know about it, so definitely.

Whether you're young or old,

as a youngster you may not have been here,

you didn't see it, but Grandma talks about it,

Grandpa talks about it.

Aunt and Uncle, "Oh, yeah, I was there when."

And I think that's a part of Louisiana history.

I don't think it'll ever die.

I mean, who knows, Momo might come back to visit.

You might see a movie like "The Legend of Boggy Creek"

or "Creature From Black Lake",

or even the never released, "Momo the Missouri Monster",

as a silly, stupid reflection of history,

an unreal take on the real events,

but that ain't the way I see it.

Movies are entertainment, sure,

sometimes silly, sometimes over the top,

sometimes downright terrible.

But movies like this perpetuate a significant story.

"Momo the Missouri Monster" is important

because it's doing its own small part to preserve an event

that the town itself is doing its best to forget.

Is it factually accurate in every detail?

Nah, but no retelling of any story ever is.

The best that we can hope for is that in time,

the legend of Momo isn't forgotten.

That the monster and the people

whose lives it affected, are remembered,

their experiences and stories are preserved.

You might say it's just a silly little monster movie

and maybe you're right,

but to some of us, it's a whole lot more.